After a short stop in Cleveland, Shaquille O’Neal is now headed to Beantown to play for the Boston Celtics. On the surface this move makes a lot of sense for the Celtics and it’s a move that doesn’t carry too much risk either. Number one, they need some depth at the center position because of the injury to Kendrick Perkins and the issues that Kevin Garnett has had recently. Not to mention, if the Celtics are going to get out of the Eastern Conference this season and defend conference their title, they are more than likely going to have to go through Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic at sometime during the season. If that happens, the Celtics will need a big body to match up with D12 and the Big Leprechaun provides that. However, the one issue that people continue to point to with the C’s is the fact that they are old and slow.

Now the Celtics have signed a center that looked just that last season in Cleveland. Shaq can be a big body and he can still be a force inside, but he is also old, slow, and doesn’t play defense. For a defensive minded team that needed to get fresh, young legs in their rotation, the fit doesn’t look great.

Shaquille O’Neal joined 106.7 the Fan in Washington D.C. on the Mike Wise Show to talk about the comments Jim Rome made about him, why he decided to go to Boston, and what he thought about LeBron’s decision to go to Miami.

On Jim Rome’s comments:

“One, I would never be upset from a person that doesn’t have a legacy and second of all people that haven’t done what I have done can’t say whether I have a legacy or not. A guy that’s scored 28,000 points and a guy that has done as much as I have done, if I haven’t stood up to my legacy than I guess I’m a failure. That’s something that I have to live with. Jim Rome knows better than that and he’s just throwing my name around so he can get the ratings for his terrible show. I understand the business and people can have their own opinion, but one thing I can’t take is a bashing from a bum like Jim Rome. If he wants to continue to say that I haven’t lived up to my legacy than neither does Bill Walton with two rings, neither has the great Wilt Chamberlain with two rings, and neither has other great players before me, but again people that have no legacy cannot define whether or not a person has stood up to their legacy or not.”

On the idea that he should have more rings:

“In my mind I should’ve had seven. In my mind I wish I wouldn’t have missed at least 5,000 free throws. The other is I wish I wouldn’t have missed 200 games, but those things happen and acknowledge them every single day. I don’t have to acknowledge things publicly. I don’t have to do that. I acknowledge them every day, but when it’s all said and done and I look down at the book that me and you have written, four rings, okay, pretty good big man. When I’m done playing and I could look down and say man I missed 200 games when I was averaging 27 points per game. Damn, but I still got 28,000 points. Okay, pretty good. Pretty good for a kid from Newark, New Jersey. Let’s see, I’ve got four rings and I should’ve had seven, that’s pretty good. So don’t say I didn’t live up to my legacy.”

On why he didn’t have a one hour special like LeBron to make his announcement:

“He’s my friend and I’m not gonna bash him. I don’t want to do that.”

On whether or not he has talked to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, or Ray Allen:

“Not yet. What I like about this team is there very unselfish and they handled us pretty good last year. A lot of people say there were other offers out there why did you take that deal? In order to win a championship you must have sacrifice. Money has never been an issue to me. I think I’m one of the luckiest players in the world and Ive had four max contracts in one whole career.”

On the best player he has played with:

“A lot of people rank players from different opinions, but if you wanna go with ring standpoint it has to be Kobe. LeBron is a great athlete, D-Wade is a great athlete, but it’s close. I’m lucky to have been able to play with both of those guys, but Kobe right now has had that eye for a long time. I’ve known him for a while. When he gets that eye there aren’t really too many people that can beat him.”

9 Responses to “Shaq Threatens to “Ostertag” Jim Rome”

I’ve sometimes enjoyed Jim Rome. I think when your job obliges you to fire off pithy and entertaining opinions at forty rounds a clip there will be boners. This was hopefully just a clumsy boner and not malicious dig. Shaq is 100 % correct when he replies that Jim Rome is simply not entitled to make such a judgment. It is absurd to say of any basketball player that he “should have had” x number of championships. It is really absurd and makes the speaker absurd. Lets be frank. The “sports analyst” is a dependent, a minion, a parasite if you like, on the talents of the truly great athletes. Sometimes, as in the case of Jeff Van Gundy, they also have a distinguished career in the sport and can venture a little further in their opinions without becoming silly. For someone like Jim Rome to say that a hall of famer with four rings fell short is like a pinworm complaining that his host could have eaten one more chicken breast.

Well put Shaq…. Across the board. The response to Jim Rowe, the non-response to the 1 hour “Decision”, and the acknowledgement of the best player in the NBA right now. Shaq would be the best to testify on the best player since he played with all three… and a very unbiased admission at that, since Kobe is certainly not his favorite of the three.